Two contrasting elements I found or could tell from the pages I've read is that of light and dark. Darkness being the harsh treatment the Africans get when the whites try to colonize in Africa. The light is the river which you can just see and think of it leading you to and adventure and something Marlows curiosity needs.

Much of the "civilized" world viewed Africans as savages and beasts. They were not viewed or treated equally as humans yet they showed the most restraint. Marlow notes the insistent gnaw of hunger. Hunger is enough to drive even the most "civilized" and etiquette abiding gentleman into mad frenzy and extremes for nourishment. Yet, even though the cannibals were starving and outnumbered the whites by a large factor they did not attack. If the most prestigious of man easily succumbs to the primal rage of hunger but the most beastly of "savages" show adamant will and restraint, how can they be called savages?

-Andy 1st period.

The two main contrasting elements are light and darkness. Darkness is like the river and how he is going deeper and deeper. Lightness is like when that Russian dude welcome them. His Journey was good( lightness) and bad(darkness). When he goes deeper, bad things happen like seeing the Helmsman died by a spear and other cons stuff. After he got to the station he was welcome by a Russian man who seem really cheerful and maybe something good might happen. There might be lightness, but maybe not.

- Flora Wai 1st Period.

Uhhh okay, I posted earlier, but commonly recurring elements are corruption, manipulation, violence, darkness, and evil. Marlow himself actually demonstrates traits that oppose the common traits of the characters around him. The personalities of Marlow and Kurtz greatly contrast one another: Marlow demonstrates a level of compassion, ambition, curiosity, and overall is a character one might call "good" (even though good in itself is a subjective term). Kurtz appears to have the opposite of all these traits.

The theme I interpreted is that there are no limits to the atrocities human beings are capable of, and the root of this evil can be traced to human psychology, which is why it runs so strongly.

The two main contrasting elements are lightness and darkness. Africa is filled with dark and gloomy features. The people citizens in Africa suffer from getting beaten and hard work. To balance everything out there is lightness which is the Congo river. Although it is in this dark area it is filled with calmness and peace. There might be a possibility that the "heart" of darkness is actually the river because it is located in the center of Africa, or in the center of darkness.

I agree with Clara. The two contrasting elements can be "lightness" and "darkness." The light represents civilization (the white men) or the civilized side of the world and the dark represents the uncivilized (Africans) or savage side of the world.


---Ida Yu, 1st period.

-Rodel, 1st period
I agree with the people that lightness and darknesss are two contrasting elements for this book.
The dark part, is of Marlow through his tough journey, getting through all these obstacles in his path, just to meet Kurtz.
The light, is that he actually succeeds in what his dreams are, and his desire.

i definitely agree with the light and darkness stuff, but i also feel that there are others elements as well. I think that the book Heart of Darkness shows how the strong are inferior to the weak. Such as the Africans in the book are weaker to other people, such as Europeans. I think that the characters in the book have to work in the rise of power. If you have no power or strength you are weak.